‘Focus on other drivers’: Former Fer Ferrari rari boss says Hamilton move risks destabilising Maranello

Former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto wouldn’t have signed Lewis Hamilton had he still been in charge, believing the Briton risks destabilising the team’s long-term championship plan centred around Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton blindsided Formula 1 and his Mercedes team by announcing a blockbuster switch to Ferrari for 2025 in February, ending an 18-year association with Mercedes via its factory team and former de facto works squad McLaren.

He will partner Leclerc until at least the end of 2026, displacing the now Williams-bound Carlos Sainz

The Leclerc-Sainz partnership has been productive for Ferrari, with the pair evenly matched and pushing each other to new competitive heights over their three and a half seasons as teammates.

But the allure of Hamilton’s statement signing proved too great for Vasseur, whose team will boast arguably the strongest line-up on the grid next season.

Binotto, who has since taken the reins at Sauber ahead of its transition to the Audi works team, doesn’t see the same appeal, telling Italy’s Corriere della Sera that bringing Hamilton into the team risks disempowering Leclerc as Ferrari’s long-term leader.

“Ferrari must focus on other drivers,” he said. “And if the talent is Leclerc, he is the one who in some way I believe should be accompanied to the goal.”

The former boss said he wouldn’t have pursued Hamilton, though he thinks the seven-time champion has made the right call by moving to Maranello.

“No [I wouldn’t have signed him],” he said. “But he did very well to go to Ferrari. I agree with his decision.”

Speaking earlier this year, Leclerc said he was looking forward to the contribution Hamilton could make to Ferrari’s mission to close the gap to the front of the field.

“When a champion like Lewis gets to any team, it brings a lot of motivation out of every single person,” he told the Beyond the Grid podcast. “He will come along with all the experience that he’s had over the years with Mercedes — a different way of working, a different vision — and this is always benefiting a team.”

Leclerc also said he was looking forward to comparing himself to the 105-time race winner as the sport’s most prolific benchmark.

“Obviously for me it’s going to be amazing because I’ll have in the same car as me the most successful driver in F1 history,” he said.

“That will be both extremely interesting for me to learn from one of the best ever as well as a really big challenge and motivation to beat Lewis and to show what I’m capable of.

“With Lewis joining the team, he will definitely be a benchmark, so it will be very important for me to be on my top level.”

Speaking to ESPN, the Monegasque said he was also relishing the chance to learn from a driver with more than twice his F1 experience.

“I will be super curious to see what he has done right for all his career to have had all the success that he’s had,” he said.

“He has very little weaknesses — well, actually, I don’t know any weaknesses of Lewis.

“He’s a super strong driver, always there, super fast, super consistent.

“For me it is going to be super interesting to be able to actually look at the data and know that whatever he does I can do because we have the same car.

“Now, yes, you learn from other drivers, but when I look at his data and he is much faster in one corner [in the Mercedes], you still have the doubt of whether my car is capable of doing what he does, but next year there won’t be this question mark anymore. So it will be a huge